Are you left brained or right brained? And why does it matter?

The human brain is a
highly intricate organ that has evolved over a long period of time, and much of
that evolution has been dedicated to helping us make better, more complex decisions
so that we can stay alive. In fact,
although it only makes up 2% of our total body weight, it consumes over 20% of
the oxygen we breathe and 20% of the calories we burn every day!

Now, imagine looking
down through the top of your head into the cortex of your brain. What do you
think you will see? You would see that it is made up of two halves called
hemispheres: one on the left (the left brain) and one on the right (the right
brain).

It was neurobiologist
Dr Roger Sperry who first discovered that our brains were divided into two
roughly equal hemispheres, and that the left-brain and the right-brain are
responsible for different things: such as how your left-brain is responsible
for most of the functions on the right half of your body, and that the reverse
is true for your right-brain. This
discovery caused him – along with Dr David Hunter Hubel and Dr Torsten Nils
Wiesel – to be awarded with a Nobel Prize in 1981.

However, popular
science also holds that both hemispheres are also responsible for different
types of thought patterns. The left, it is said, is responsible for logical and
analytical thinking, whereas the right is mostly reserved for creative thinking
and intuitive reasoning. Therefore,
someone who is logical and objective is often said to be left-brain dominant,
whereas someone who is more free-spirited or thoughtful is thought of as being
right-brain dominant.

In neuroscience,
however, researchers tend to avoid using these terms as the brain’s functions
are simply too complex to be so neatly labelled and categorized. While there is some merit to the idea that a
person’s personality can lean “leftwards”, towards objective and logical
thought, or “rightwards”, towards introspective
and creative meditation, studies have shown that both hemispheres of the brain
are actively engaged when it comes to thinking and learning of all types. This indicates that such a divide is not so
much due to left- or right-brain dominance but is rather a matter of an
individual’s personality, learning habits, behavioural choices and so on.

As the seat of the
mind and the main driver of all our bodily functions, it is no exaggeration to
say that the brain is the most important organ in our body. It is an amazing
organ, and every day, thanks to ongoing research efforts in neuroscience and
neurobiology, we are constantly learning more about the brain and, therefore,
by extension, ourselves as human beings.

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